Despite its iconic status, McLaren Automotive failed to engage with prospects beyond its typical audience of petrolheads. With a brand experience dominated by clinical aesthetics and lofty messaging, McLaren was preaching to the converted. Its business imperative of doubling production and entering the sports car segment placed it in direct competition with the likes of Porsche. It was time to define what McLaren Automotive stands for and how it stands out.
Perceived as recessive and emotionless, the McLaren Automotive brand also suffered from inconsistent application leading to low recognition: only 14% of sports car owners and prospects recognised the speedmark symbol; 19% recalled seeing it but were unable to attribute it to McLaren while 67% of respondents did not recall seeing it at all.
The orange colour was previously deployed inconsistently, failing to build recognition as a brand property. Under our guidance, McLaren elevated the colour throughout the brand experience including high-level product imagery.
The previous rocket red symbol colour was replaced with a prestigious sculptural silver treatment that is used in badging across the vehicles as well as environmental design.
Working closely with Dalton Maag, also designers of the headline typeface, we extended the family to reflect sports car badging visual codes whilst keeping it unique to McLaren. The badging font will be used on all product identifiers across the McLaren Automotive range, as well as digital displays inside the cars.
Working with the McLaren engineering team we tested the typeface in 3D to ensure it is suitable for plastic injection moulding fabrication whilst retaining its visual traits.
Our recommendation of dialling up the orange resonated strongly beyond the automotive division. In 2017 the McLaren Formula 1 Racing Team redesigned its livery echoing the colour originally introduced in the 1960’s by Bruce McLaren.